We describe a teaching experiment where an introductory course to computer science is accompanied by use of a computerised training engine. This whole engine relies on the existence of an interpreter of the taught programming language that allows us to offer quizzes as well as exercises with some automatic marking facility. Students may then perform their homework with immediate feedback, without being connected to the intemet. However, students’ answers are eventually gathered in a central data base where they may be analysed, thus providing the means for ‘personal coaching’.